St. Bartholomew the Great, West Smithfield

St Bartholomew the Great
Priory Church of St Bartholomew the Great
West door and entrance from Smithfield
Location	City of London
Country	United Kingdom
Denomination	Church of England
Previous denomination	Roman Catholicism
Tradition	Anglo-Catholic
Website	greatstbarts.com
History
Founded	1123
Founder(s)	Rahere
Architecture
Heritage designation	Grade I listed building
Style	Norman
Administration
Parish	St Bartholomew the Great
Diocese	London
Province	Canterbury
Division	City of London
Clergy
Rector	Marcus Walker

Coordinates: 51°31′7.92″N 0°05′58.77″W / 51.5188667°N 0.0996583°W / 51.5188667; -0.0996583

The Priory Church of St Bartholomew the Great, sometimes abbreviated to Great St Bart's, is a church in the Church of England's Diocese of London located in West Smithfield within the City of London. The building was founded as an Augustinian priory in 1123. It adjoins St Bartholomew's Hospital of the same foundation.

It was founded in 1123 by Rahere, a prebendary of St Paul's Cathedral and an Augustinian canon regular, its establishment recorded as being in gratitude for his recovery from fever. His fabled miraculous return to good health contributed to the priory gaining a reputation for curative powers and with sick people filling its aisles, notably on 24 August (St Bartholomew's Day).

The surviving building had comprised part of a priory adjoining St Bartholomew's Hospital, but while much of the hospital survived the Dissolution of the Monasteries about half of the priory's church was ransacked before being demolished in 1543. Its nave was pulled down up to the last bay but the crossing and choir survive largely intact from the Norman and later Middle Ages, enabling its continued use as a parish church. The church and some of the priory buildings were briefly used as the third Dominican friary (Black Friars) of London, refounded by Queen Mary I of England in 1556 and closed in 1559. Part of the main entrance to the church remains at West Smithfield, nowadays most easily recognisable by its half-timbered, late 16th-century, Tudor frontage built on the older (13th-century) stone arch. This adaptation may originally have been carried out by the Dominican friars in the 1550s, or by the post-Reformation patron of the advowson,Lord Rich, Lord Chancellor of England (1547–51). From this gatehouse to the west door of the church, the path leads along roughly where the south aisle of the nave formerly existed. Very little trace of its monastic buildings now survive, although part of the cloister now houses a café.